Podcasts about Virtual reality

Greeting Comrades, and welcome to the frozen bunker in Ludza.In this episode, we aren't just analyzing the collapse of the Russian Empire; we are physically fighting General Winter. While the temperature hits -24°C outside my window, I had to turn a household Philips vacuum cleaner into a tactical flamethrower to save my heating system from exploding.Meanwhile, across the border, the "Energy Superpower" is burning down its own grid. We dive into the "Alpen Gold Index" (why cheap chocolate is now a luxury asset), the "Crypto-Khans" of Ingushetia destroying the power network to mine Bitcoin, and the horrifying new casualty figures—1.2 million dead and wounded—that the Kremlin is trying to hide.We also look at the "Virtual Reality" war where General Gerasimov captures fake cities, the 14-nation naval blockade that just bricked up Russia's "Window to Europe," and the surreal silence of Russian propaganda as a boy from Donetsk knocks Real Madrid out of the Champions League.IN THIS EPISODE:Operation Pilda Dragon: How I fixed a pellet boiler disaster with a vacuum cleaner and an inner tube.The 500-Ruble Chocolate: Varlamov, the "Tax Apocalypse," and the death of the middle class.The Meat Grinder: New data reveals 1.2 million Russian casualties and a terrifying 1:1 death ratio.The Tech Trap: Why Russian volunteers are crying about "Mavic Hunters" destroying their drones on Day 1.The Baltic Blockade: 14 nations declare the "Shadow Fleet" stateless. The window is closed.Sports Psy-Ops: Jose Mourinho, the Donetsk goalkeeper "Tolya" Trubin, and the erasure of Ukraine on Russian TV.The Final Betrayal: Trump orders an "Energy Truce," Putin obeys, and the Z-Patriots lose their minds.

Listen without ads at:www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastThis Week on The Wednesday Dose of Dopey!Dave kicks off this Wednesday Dose solo from his dad's house, riffing on nostalgic broke-addict snacks (Little Debbie oatmeal pies as cheap highs) and weird fridge finds, before diving into fan Spotify comments praising last week's emotional Erin Khar episode. He shares wild Miles Davis coke-paranoia excerpts from the autobiography (Ferrari abandonment, trash-room hiding, dealer tricks), and recommending Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way as sick sick records!Then we welcome Sandra Vergara (Selling Sunset star, Sofia Vergara's cousin/sister-figure). Sandra opens up about a traumatic Colombian childhood: brother's murder at age 9, raised by an aunt after her bio-mom's brain damage left her mentally stuck at 12, feeling like a "burden," early glue-sniffing experiment, near-fatal ruptured appendix/septic shock at 16, and constant walking-on-eggshells survival via art, empathy, and never taking abuse personally.In LA from 18, she dabbled in makeup/acting (Fright Night), when she began drinking heavy. Blackouts, self-harm (throwing herself through glass), and suicide ideation. followed. First rehab in Medellín (befriended staff for special treatment → false security). Post-rehab: mushrooms sparked a "psychedelic love" fling, ayahuasca faced childhood trauma head-on, but led to half-assed AA and relapses.COVID alone-time in NYC brought painting growth, but cat Stewie's death (worse than losing family) plunged her into deep  depression. Enter ketamine: started therapeutic (Mindbloom) but escalated to daily K-holes with Oculus VR for near-death/grief escapes, addictive Journey Circle weekends (MDMA/ayahuasca/mushrooms group catharsis without integration), erratic calls to mom, club blackouts, and cousin finding her passed out. Family intervention (Sophia pays, nephew packs her) lands her in trauma-focused Breathe Life rehab.She firmly rejects "California sober" as a trap—psychedelics delayed real surrender for her; true addicts can't substitute one mind-alter for another. Full AA commitment (no more a la carte) + Kabbalah (post-breakup desperation) changed everything: tikkun (soul correction via tough life choices), turning reactive impulses (anger/gossip) into proactive restriction, daily study/meditation for frequency shifts. Ties Kabbalah to quantum physics (observer effect = perception shapes reality, entanglement = we're all connected, certainty in the unknown = surrender).Sandra discusses Selling Sunset challenges (producer manipulation, ego, glamour vs. spiritual presence) and her new neuroscience/IFS/Kabbalah coaching for holistic recovery (mind stories, body regulation, spirit alignment). All that and much more on the brand new episode of that good old dopey show!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This interview is disseminated on behalf of Virtuix.Virtuix is redefining movement in virtual reality (VR) through its “Omni” omnidirectional treadmills, which allow individuals to walk and run in 360 degrees within video games, VR applications, and even AI-generated worlds.CEO Jan Goetgeluk discusses his company's NASDAQ uplisting, growth strategy, and the launch of the Omni One VR system for home consumers. He also explains how Gaussian splatting enables photorealistic virtual environments.Discover more: https://virtuix.com/Watch the full YouTube interview here: https://youtu.be/k-wxUiHXfCsAnd follow us to stay updated: https://www.youtube.com/@GlobalOneMedia

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW NMS Episode 856 - Here a Freighter, There a Freighter AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

What happens when you can transform yourself into any character, in any world, in real time, while streaming live? Dean Leitersdorf is the CEO and co-founder of Decart, an Israeli AI company that just cracked the code on real-time generative video. Within a week of launching at TwitchCon, Twitch streamers were making thousands of dollars per hour letting their audiences morph them into cartoon characters, fantasy worlds, and entirely new realities—live, on stream, for three dollars per hour of AI processing.Dean's insight: the next wave of AI doesn't just make video generation faster or cheaper. It makes it interactive. Creators can now edit themselves, their backgrounds, and entire environments on the fly during Zoom calls, live streams, or gaming sessions. Decart runs this at roughly 100x cheaper than competitors and is targeting another 100x cost reduction over the next year to reach YouTube-level pricing (cents per hour instead of dollars). That shift unlocks new markets—gaming mods, consumer filters, XR glasses, and eventually robotics training in photorealistic simulated worlds.News: Humans&, a 3-month-old AI lab founded by researchers from Anthropic, Google, and X AI, raises $480 million at a $4 billion valuation based almost entirely on founder pedigree. Xreal sues Viture for patent infringement in bird bath optics, echoing the very lawsuit Magic Leap filed against Xreal years ago—a cycle of irony layered with allegations of trade secret theft and China-based IP evasion. OpenAI discloses $20 billion in revenue but rumored $50–60 billion in annual operating expenses, raising questions about path to profitability. TikTok's US operations close under Oracle's stewardship, and a new vertical drama app called Pinedrama launches. ElevenLabs launches music generation, competing with Suno and Udio.Key Moments Timestamps:[00:20:30] Dean's background: Israeli tech ecosystem, the Technion, and building a team of 0.001 percenters[00:22:00] The real-time video demo: transforming Dean into a cartoon character, live, during the podcast[00:26:30] Decart's competitive advantage: 100x cheaper than competitors, targeting another 100x reduction[00:28:00] TwitchCon success: streamers making $2,000/hour letting audiences control real-time transformations[00:31:00] Exit strategy or go-it-alone: why Decart believes foundational model owners capture the market[00:40:00] XR and robotics use cases: world reshaping, robot training simulations, AR glasses at 6K/120fps[00:48:30] Culture and talent: renting 34 apartments next to the office so engineers live two minutes away[00:55:00] The secret sauce: synthetic data from game engines beats internet-scale scrapingDean explains why Snap Camera's 10-year-old integration into stadium kiss cams proves the market is ready for the next evolution, how world models will power the next generation of XR glasses, and why the bottleneck shifts from rendering to semantics—making sure a virtual car doesn't block a real-world foot. Decart is building the foundation. The ecosystem will sprout on top.This episode is brought to you by Zappar, creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile headsets and desktop. Mattercraft combines the power of a game engine with the flexibility of the web, and now features an AI assistant that helps you design, code, and debug in real time, right in your browser. Build smarter at mattercraft.io.Listen to the full episode and subscribe to the AI XR Podcast for weekly conversations at the intersection of AI, XR, and the future of human-computer interaction.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are remote due to a massive snowstorm in our neck of the woods. But the show must go on! We are talking some updates from Guardians Frontline and Thief VR. As well some unfortunate news from Walkabout Mini Golf regarding some team layoffs. We also talk the situation with VR modder Luke Ross. As well as some comments regarding the Meta layoffs from both Andrew Bosworth and Palmer Luckey.Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

I was going to be at a tabletop/board game convention next weekend in Atlanta called Dice & Diversions, however mid-week it was postponed to Feburary. An Alternate Reality Game released on Steam in 2018 recently got a lot of negative reviews for being "too hard" because apparently younger people can't send an email correctly. Meta has exited the VR Gaming business, shutting down three of its VR gaming studio acquisitions. Meta is also refocusing its remaining VR studios to be more AI and wearable devices focused, rather than with VR. Then we talk to Jamie about the upcoming debut of Orange Lounge Radio IIDX and where Meta went wrong.

2026 is putting us through our paces right out of the gate. We're hanging onto hope, but layoffs, consolidation, and private equity loom over us like a shadow. On this episode: an update on Paramount's desperate fight for Warner Bros. Discovery, Saudi Arabia moves video game holdings, and VR's challenges get much larger. You can support Virtual Economy's growth via our Ko-Fi and also purchase Virtual Economy merchandise! TIME STAMPS [00:02:35] - A conversation about hardware prices [00:10:16] - Paramount sues Warner Bros for Netflix deal details [00:15:39] - Investment Interlude [00:24:13] - Quick Hits [00:28:07] - Labor Report

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW NMS Episode 855 - VR Has Been Bery Bery Good to Me AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

What happens when someone who grew up in the Lucasfilm Games golden era decides that today's AI tools are failing creatives? Mike Levine has spent more than 30 years building at the intersection of games, XR, VFX, and interactive storytelling—and his verdict is clear: the current AI stack is a fragmented, overcomplicated mess that turns directors into prompt engineers.Mike started as a tester at Lucasfilm Games (later LucasArts), working his way into the art department on titles like Sam & Max and The Dig before helping ship live-action Star Wars games such as Rebel Assault and Jedi Knight II. He later built rotoscoping tools used across the VFX industry, collaborated with ILM and Pixar, experimented with mobile AR games for Hasbro and HoloLens, and dipped into crypto gaming—before finally co-founding MovieFlow (now FilmSpark), an AI-native production platform designed so that filmmakers, agencies, and showrunners can move from script to screen without needing a computer science degree.The AI XR news you should know: Apple taps Google Gemini to power Siri, acknowledging that building world-class LLMs in-house makes little financial sense. Meta cuts 10% of Reality Labs, right-sizing its VR bets while pivoting toward wearables. Xreal raises another $100M amid questions about Chinese state influence and data flows. Higgs Field lands $80M at a $1.3B valuation for AI cinematography tools that many filmmakers still find unreliable. Wikipedia signs licensing deals with major AI companies after years of being scraped for free. OpenAI invests $252M in Sam Altman–backed Merge Labs, raising fresh conflict-of-interest questions.Key Moments Timestamps:[00:23:02] From Boston journalist-to-be to accidental hire at Lucasfilm Games[00:26:24] The “test pit” culture at Lucas and how Nintendo experience got Mike in the door[00:28:45] Moving into the art department, learning Photoshop from early legends, and shipping Sam & Max[00:31:15] Live-action Star Wars games: Rebel Assault, Jedi Knight II, and convincing George Lucas[00:34:38] Visiting Pixar with new VFX tools and recognizing the same creative “magic” as LucasArts[00:36:24] Doug Trumbull's influence on Mike's sense of cinematic possibility and immersion[00:43:27] The urinal meeting at Magic Leap and what early spatial computing got right (and wrong)[00:49:00] Why most AI tools are “dark ages” for filmmakers: node graphs, 10+ subscriptions, no story view[00:51:00] Building MovieFlow/FilmSpark: story-first, timeline-based AI production for long-form and vertical shows[00:53:00] The Neighborhood Podcast: a 90-second vertical murder mystery as proof-of-concept for AI-native seriesWhen humans can generate shots, scenes, and even entire episodes in minutes, the bottleneck shifts from production to vision. Mike argues that the winning AI tools will be the ones that let directors see their whole story, maintain continuity, and iterate fast—without ever feeling like they left the edit bay for a dev console. His vertical drama collaboration with Charlie, The Neighborhood Podcast, is an early look at what happens when narrative craft meets AI-native pipelines instead of fighting them.This episode is brought to you by Zapar creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences. Build smarter at mattercraft.io.Watch the full episode on YouTube and subscribe to the AI XR Podcast for weekly conversations with the people building the future of AI, XR, and interactive media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sadly, the bad news has begun early in 2026 as Meta has closed several of their VR studios and issued layoffs at others, raising the question of whether there should be concern about the viability of Virtual Reality as a gaming medium. Does this further push VR down the niche hole? Or is there still hope out there? Also, Ubisoft is in the news again for a lot of the wrong reasons. Closing a studio in Canada and facing their own troubles with avoiding unions, issuing layoffs at others, as they also attempt to get gamers excited about their future products, two of which feel like it's just a matter of when, not if, they will be officially released. Plus, Marc played the Forbidden Solitaire demo, Marathon has an official release date of March 5, Sony made some news for finally removing slop from the PSN store, Bobby Kotick is back in the news talking about Call of Duty and Xbox. All of this and more on this edition of Video Games 2 the MAX.You can also watch this episode in video form on the W2M Network Youtube Channel, please give us a like, comment on the episode, and give the channel a subscribe and follow as well: https://youtube.com/live/YLaaMszCJBo

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are back to talking all the latest VR news! Unfortunately this includes some sad news on the Meta end with many layoffs to their Reality Labs division and many of their studios closing including Twisted Pixel, Armature and Sanzaru Games, as well as reductions to the Supernatural team. We also talk our thoughts on the newest course from Walkabout Mini Golf - Tiki a Coco. As well as an update and new map from Forefront. Our room live in How To God. Legendary Tales on the Meta Quest. And increase in Meta Smart Glasses production. And much more!Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/0:00 - Episode Start1:00 - Walkabout Mini Golf Tiki a Coco course13:40 - Forefront new "Tunnels" map28:00 - How to God update34:10 - Meta Layoffs and Studios Closing54:00 - Legendary Tales on Meta Quest55:45 - Meta increases smart glasses productionSupport the show

This episode is a replay from The Existential Stoic library. Enjoy! If we are living in a simulation, would you be able to tell? Would your sense of right and wrong change if you knew everything is a lie? In this episode, Danny and Randy discuss what we know and whether everything we know is a lie.Subscribe to ESP's YouTube Channel! Thanks for listening!  Do you have a question you want answered in a future episode? If so, send your question to: existentialstoic@protonmail.com

Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!On this episode we are joined by two Coconuts for Mighty Coconut to talk about Walkabout Mini Golf's newest course Tiki A Coco! We have today Don Carson - Senior Art Director, and Nate Terhune - tech artist. Listen as we get to know these two more and learn more about their newest course!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at  https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkSupport the show

Is it possible to reconstruct a 4,500-year-old wonder of the world – and let millions of people walk inside it? In this episode, we're joined by Peter Der Manuelian, Harvard Egyptologist and Director of the Giza Project, and Fabien Barati, CEO and co-founder of the immersive technology company Excurio, to explore how rigorous archaeology and cutting-edge virtual reality came together to create Horizon of Khufu: An Immersive Expedition to Ancient Egypt. Drawing on decades of excavation records, architectural data, and historical research, Peter and his team served as the project's primary scientific advisors, ensuring the virtual Great Pyramid of Giza reflects the latest archaeological evidence. Fabien and the Excurio team translated that scholarship into a shared, large-scale VR experience — allowing participants to traverse the Giza Plateau, enter the Great Pyramid, witness daily life in ancient Egypt, and attend the funerary rites of Pharaoh Khufu… In this episode, we explore: How Harvard's Giza Project data was transformed into a walk-through VR pyramid Why historical accuracy matters in immersive archaeology What muon tomography reveals about hidden voids inside the Great Pyramid How VR can balance preservation with global access to cultural heritage What the future holds for immersive expeditions and digital archaeology With over one million visitors worldwide, Horizon of Khufu has become a landmark example of "edutainment," making fragile and inaccessible heritage sites available to global audiences while preserving their integrity for future generations. Ready to learn more about this fascinating project? Tune in now! More on Peter: https://anthropology.fas.harvard.edu/people/peter-der-manuelian More on Fabien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabien-barati-5b20205/?originalSubdomain=fr

Corporal Jim Lancia is (to the best of our knowledge) the only 56 guest to have been ambushed with a Tommy gun. He has so many tales of adventure and danger that he said getting stabbed under his vest during a domestic wasn't even a big deal compared to all the times he's been shot at. After years as a law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania, plus a stint training K-9s for Navy SEALs, he came to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. (He passed up on an offer from NASA SWAT, which means working at our agency is cooler than… er, fighting aliens? Or is that Space Force? We're really not sure.) While here, he's worked on the beaches and in the Marine Unit for a welcome change from snow and slush in the concrete jungle. Right now he's in the Training Division, keeping PCSO on the forefront of the most innovative technology, including our groundbreaking use of Virtual Reality. Hear about how he was first on scene at a mass shooting, how he put his life on the line for $5.25 an hour, and why he loved working with the beautiful chaos that is a Belgian Malinois. He says he's been shot at so many times that he shouldn't be here talking to us now, but his career shows that in police work, luck's not a tactic, but it's a very real thing.Email us your questions and suggestions at lets56@pcsonet.comFollow PCSO: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTubeFollow 56: InstagramPCSO Website

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW NMS Episode 854 - Expedition Education AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

Dean Takahashi is the dean of tech writers and a 25-year veteran correspondent covering consumer electronics, gaming, and emerging technology for GamesBeat. He's covered every major tech transition—from mobile's rise to VR's boom-and-bust cycles to the current AI explosion—with a skeptical eye and a talent for finding the human story beneath the hype. This is his fifth appearance on the AI XR Podcast.For CES 2026, Dean walked the floors across the Convention Center, the Venetian Expo Center (Eureka Park), Pepcom, and Showstoppers, emerging with a clear reading: China has decisively shifted from periphery to center stage in consumer electronics manufacturing, American incumbents are pulling back and rethinking their booth strategy, and the economics of CES itself are in transition. Robotics companies are moving from prototype to commercial faster than expected—but they still can't answer basic questions about pricing and labor displacement.News: Sony cuts its booth to demo an electric car instead of TVs. Samsung skips the show floor entirely for the first time. Nvidia takes over the Fontainebleau to showcase its role in robotics enablement. Lenovo dominates the Sphere with a Gwen Stefani concert. Chinese robotics companies proliferate with laundry folders, latte makers, and toilet-cleaning units. Roomba files for bankruptcy; Chinese competitors take over the robotic vacuum market.Key Moments:[00:01:23] Dean receives his virtual green jacket as a five-time returning guest and Charlie thanks him for his insights[00:03:00] China takeover at CES: TCL dominates Central Hall, ROED owns the XR booth, robotics companies fill the floor[00:06:00] Nvidia's Fontainebleau takeover and the "chest-pumping" show of force; why scale messaging still matters[00:14:18] The robotics explosion explained: Nvidia's digital twins, Cosmos world models, and synthetic testing accelerate time-to-market[00:19:00] The pricing problem: robotics companies won't answer how much their products cost; the minimum wage rental model doesn't translate globallyWhen American companies built the show, CES reflected American manufacturing dominance. Now that China manufactures most consumer electronics, CES reflects that shift—and the implications ripple through labor, supply chains, and where the next epicenter of innovation will be. Dean, Charlie, and Ted grapple with what CES 2026 signals about global manufacturing advantage and why the geography of tech matters more than we think.This episode is brought to you by Zappar, creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile headsets and desktop. Mattercraft combines the power of a game engine with the flexibility of the web, and now features an AI assistant that helps you design, code, and debug in real time, right in your browser. Build smarter at mattercraft.io.Listen to the full post-CES debrief and subscribe for weekly conversations at the intersection of AI, XR, and consumer technology.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are announcing the winners for this years 2025 Ruff Talk VR Awards! It was a tough pick for these categories, and even just being a nominee is a big deal in a market with so many great releases. Listen for the winners!Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!This is a bonus episode on the podcast feed of our YouTube Live community hangout from Saturday! Come hangout with us during the live which is usually Sunday at 3pm ET (Exact details weekly are on our Discord). Listen as we hangout and talk VR with some of our community!Showcase form: https://forms.gle/HxwkK9zuwydwbkKM8Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at  https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkSupport the show

We are joined today by Steve Corrigan - head of developer relations at Roto VR! This VR accessory looks to blend immersion and haptics, while reducing VR nausea. Listen as we get to know Steve and learn more about Roto VR!Save 25% off a Roto VR chair using code word RuffTalkVR at checkout!Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

“The world is a very volatile place, with currently 110 conflicts globally, and yet healthcare staff in the hospitals, even here in London, are not prepared to be the only clinician who can help in a crisis or hostile setting,” says Dr. David Gough, CEO of the David Nott Foundation, which equips providers with the skills and confidence needed to function in war and other extraordinary situations. A former British Army doctor injured in Afghanistan, Gough brings lived experience as well as a background in tech to his current role at the Foundation, which itself is anchored in decades of field work amassed by its namesake, a renowned war surgeon. As Dr. Gough points out to host Lindsey Smith, the cause could be helped by augmenting medical school curricula, but in the meantime, the Foundation is filling the knowledge gap by using prosthetics, virtual reality simulations and cadavers to train a broad swath of health workers including surgeons, anesthetists, and obstetricians. Tune in to this important Raise the Line conversation as Dr. Gough reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of NGOs in doing this work, his plans to expand the Foundation's footprint in the US, and the gratifying feedback he's received from trainees now operating on the frontlines in Ukraine and elsewhere. Mentioned in this episode:David Nott Foundation If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW FF14 Episode 853 - A New Year A New FC AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses Final Fantasy XIV and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW NMS Episode 852 - Forgive Me Atlas For I Have Duped AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black join Beauty at Work for a wide-ranging conversation on artificial intelligence, innovation, and the deeper questions of meaning, faith, and human flourishing that surround emerging technologies.Jaron Lanier coined the terms Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality and is widely regarded as a founding figure of the field. He has served as a leading critic of digital culture and social media, and his books include You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future? In 2018, Wired Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in technology of the previous 25 years. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Jaron is currently the Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft's Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which spells out “Octopus”, in reference to his fascination with cephalopod neurology. He is also a musician and composer who has recently performed or recorded with Sara Bareilles, T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, Philip Glass, and many others.E. Glen Weyl is Founder and Research Lead at Microsoft Research's Plural Technology Collaboratory and Co-Founder of the Plurality Institute and RadicalxChange Foundation. He is the co-author of Radical Markets and Plurality and works at the intersection of economics, technology, democracy, and social institutions.Taylor Black is Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and the founding director of the Leonum Institute on Emerging Technologies and AI at The Catholic University of America. His background spans philosophy, law, and technology leadership.In this second part of our conversation, we talk about:1. The idea that modern technology and AI, in particular, have taken on religious or idolatrous qualities2. Why the Talmud offers a powerful model for collective intelligence without erasing individual voices3. The dangers of excessive anonymity in digital systems and AI training4. The idea of “superintelligences” as collective human systems like corporations, democracies, and religions5. Vatican-led efforts toward algorithmic ethics and the protection of human dignity6. Where Glen and Jaron disagree about human-centered AI7. AI as a tool for metacognition8. How imagination, storytelling, and shared meaning can shape the future of innovationTo learn more about Jaron, Glen and Taylor's work, you can find them at: Jaron Lanier - https://www.jaronlanier.com/ Glen Weyl - https://glenweyl.com/ Taylor Black - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blacktaylor/ Books and Resources mentioned:You Are Not a Gadget (Jaron Lanier)Who Owns the Future? (Jaron Lanier)Radical Markets (Eric Posner & E. Glen Weyl)Plurality (Audrey Tang & E. Glen Weyl)The Human Use of Human Beings (Norbert Wiener)The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust.Support the show

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Josh Halliday, who works on training super intelligence with frontier data at Turing. The conversation explores the fascinating world of reinforcement learning (RL) environments, synthetic data generation, and the crucial role of high-quality human expertise in AI training. Josh shares insights from his years working at Unity Technologies building simulated environments for everything from oil and gas safety scenarios to space debris detection, and discusses how the field has evolved from quantity-focused data collection to specialized, expert-verified training data that's becoming the key bottleneck in AI development. They also touch on the philosophical implications of our increasing dependence on AI technology and the emerging job market around AI training and data acquisition.Timestamps00:00 Introduction to AI and Reinforcement Learning03:12 The Evolution of AI Training Data05:59 Gaming Engines and AI Development08:51 Virtual Reality and Robotics Training11:52 The Future of Robotics and AI Collaboration14:55 Building Applications with AI Tools17:57 The Philosophical Implications of AI20:49 Real-World Workflows and RL Environments26:35 The Impact of Technology on Human Cognition28:36 Cultural Resistance to AI and Data Collection31:12 The Bottleneck of High-Quality Data in AI32:57 Philosophical Perspectives on Data35:43 The Future of AI Training and Human Collaboration39:09 The Role of Subject Matter Experts in Data Quality43:20 The Evolution of Work in the Age of AI46:48 Convergence of AI and Human ExperienceKey Insights1. Reinforcement Learning environments are sophisticated simulations that replicate real-world enterprise workflows and applications. These environments serve as training grounds for AI agents by creating detailed replicas of tools like Salesforce, complete with specific tasks and verification systems. The agent attempts tasks, receives feedback on failures, and iterates until achieving consistent success rates, effectively learning through trial and error in a controlled digital environment.2. Gaming engines like Unity have evolved into powerful platforms for generating synthetic training data across diverse industries. From oil and gas companies needing hazardous scenario data to space intelligence firms tracking orbital debris, these real-time 3D engines with advanced physics can create high-fidelity simulations that capture edge cases too dangerous or expensive to collect in reality, bridging the gap where real-world data falls short.3. The bottleneck in AI development has fundamentally shifted from data quantity to data quality. The industry has completely reversed course from the previous "scale at all costs" approach to focusing intensively on smaller, higher-quality datasets curated by subject matter experts. This represents a philosophical pivot toward precision over volume in training next-generation AI systems.4. Remote teleoperation through VR is creating a new global workforce for robotics training. Workers wearing VR headsets can remotely control humanoid robots across the globe, teaching them tasks through direct demonstration. This creates opportunities for distributed talent while generating the nuanced human behavioral data needed to train autonomous systems.5. Human expertise remains irreplaceable in the AI training pipeline despite advancing automation. Subject matter experts provide crucial qualitative insights that go beyond binary evaluations, offering the contextual "why" and "how" that transforms raw data into meaningful training material. The challenge lies in identifying, retaining, and properly incentivizing these specialists as demand intensifies.6. First-person perspective data collection represents the frontier of human-like AI training. Companies are now paying people to life-log their daily experiences, capturing petabytes of egocentric data to train models more similarly to how human children learn through constant environmental observation, rather than traditional batch-processing approaches.7. The convergence of simulation, robotics, and AI is creating unprecedented philosophical and practical challenges. As synthetic worlds become indistinguishable from reality and AI agents gain autonomy, we're entering a phase where the boundaries between digital and physical, human and artificial intelligence, become increasingly blurred, requiring careful consideration of dependency, agency, and the preservation of human capabilities.

In this episode of the NCS Podcast Currents series, host Lauren Koffman, DO, MS, speaks with Nilufer Yalcin, MD, a neurointensivist at Boston Medical Center, about her Currents article on the use of virtual reality in neurorehabilitation. Together, they explore the neuroscience behind virtual reality–based therapies, including multisensory engagement, cortical reorganization and the role of motivation and reward pathways in recovery. Their conversation also examines different VR modalities, the current evidence supporting motor and cognitive rehabilitation and emerging applications in the ICU setting. Dr. Yalcin further highlights practical considerations such as feasibility and standardization, as well as future directions for the field, including brain-computer interfaces and tele-rehabilitation. To read the full article, visit Currents: Virtual Reality for Neurorehabilitation: Mechanisms, Modalities, and Clinical Applications. The views expressed on the NCS Podcast are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official positions of the Neurocritical Care Society.

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are announcing the nominees for this years 2025 Ruff Talk VR Awards! From genre specific awards such as survival game of the year, to the fan voted game of the year, and the main game of the year award, we have a stacked list of nominees from this year!Vote for the winners here: https://forms.gle/Zn5VFTAF82q3vqvSAUse code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!This is a bonus episode on the podcast feed of our YouTube Live community hangout from Saturday! Come hangout with us during the live which is usually Sunday at 3pm ET (Exact details weekly are on our Discord). Listen as we hangout and talk VR with some of our community!Showcase form: https://forms.gle/HxwkK9zuwydwbkKM8Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at  https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkSupport the show

Gary Shapiro has spent decades at the center of the global consumer technology industry, leading the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and building CES into one of the most important stages for innovation, policy, and deal-making on the planet. In this first episode of 2026, Gary joins Charlie, Rony, and Ted to preview CES, unpack the explosion of AI across every category, and deliver unusually blunt takes on tariffs, China, manufacturing, and U.S. innovation policy. He explains how CES has evolved from a TV-and-gadgets show into a global platform where boards meet, standards are set, and policymakers, chip designers, robotics firms, and health-tech startups all collide.In the News: Before Gary joins, the hosts break down Nvidia's $20 billion “not-a-deal” with Singapore's Groq, the stake in Intel, and what that combo might signal about the edge of the GPU bubble and the shift toward inference compute, x86, and U.S. industrial policy. They also dig into Netflix's acquisition of Ready Player Me and what it suggests about a Netflix metaverse and location-based entertainment strategy, plus Starlink's rapid growth and an onslaught of “AI everything” products ahead of CES.Gary walks through new features at this year's show: CES Foundry at the Fontainebleau for AI and quantum, expanded tracks on manufacturing, wearables, women's health, and accessibility, plus an AI-powered show app already fielding thousands of questions (top query: where to pick up badges). He also talks candidly about his biggest concern—that fragmented state-level AI regulation (1,200+ state bills in 2025) will crush startups while big players shrug—and why he believes federal standards via NIST are the only realistic path. The discussion ranges from AI-driven healthcare and precision agriculture to robotics, demographics, labor culture, global supply chains, and what CES might look like in 2056.5 Key Takeaways from Gary:AI is now the spine of CES. CES 2026 centers on AI as infrastructure: CES Foundry at the Fontainebleau for AI + quantum, AI training tracks for strategy, implementation, agentic AI, and AI-driven marketing, and an AI-powered app helping attendees navigate the show.Fragmented state AI laws are an existential risk for startups. Over 1,200 state AI bills in 2025—including proposals to criminalize agentic AI counseling—could create a compliance maze only large incumbents can survive, which is why Gary argues for federal standards via NIST.Wearables are becoming systems, not gadgets. Oura rings, wrist devices, body sensors, and subdermal glucose monitors are starting to be designed as interoperable families of devices, with partnerships emerging to combine data into unified health services.Robotics is breaking out of the industrial niche. CES will showcase the largest robotics presence yet, moving beyond factory arms and drones to humanoids, logistics, social companions, and applied AI systems across sectors.Tariffs, alliances, and AI will reshape manufacturing. Gary is skeptical of “Fortress USA” strategies that try to onshore everything, pointing instead to allied reshoring (Latin America, Europe, Japan, South Korea) and the long-term role of AI-powered robotics in changing labor economics and global supply chains.This episode is brought to you by Zappar, creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile headsets and desktop. Mattercraft combines the power of a game engine with the flexibility of the web, and now features an AI assistant that helps you design, code, and debug in real time, right in your browser. Whether you're a developer, designer, or just getting started, start building smarter at mattercraft.io.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are joined by Mark Roemer, co-founder of the studio behind Realize Music: Sing! Listen as we get to know Mark, his background in music, learn more about Realize Music: Sing, and more! End of Year Awards Nominee Suggestion Form: https://forms.gle/KVPai6K4qGFsFJC36Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

We're surrounded by digital devices — from phones and tablets to streaming platforms and social media. In this excerpt, Kristy Hamilton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at UCSB, shares research on how digital media shapes the way we see ourselves and the way we behave. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 41215]

This episode is a special replay from The Generalist Podcast, featuring a conversation with a16z General Partner Martin Casado. Martin has lived through multiple tech waves as a founder, researcher, and investor, and in this discussion he shares how he thinks about the AI boom, why he believes we're still early in the cycle, and how a market-first lens shapes his approach to investing.They also dig into the mechanics behind the scenes: why AI coding could become a multi-trillion-dollar market, how a16z evolved from a small generalist firm into a specialized organization, the growing role of open-source models, and why Martin believes AGI debates often obscure more meaningful questions about how technology actually creates value. Resources:Follow Mario GabrieleX: https://x.com/mariogabrielehttps://www.generalist.com/Follow Martin Casado:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincasado/X: https://x.com/martin_casadoThe Generalist Substack: https://www.generalist.com/The Generalist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistPodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6mHuHe0Tj6XVxpgaw4WsJVApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalist/id1805868710 Stay Updated:If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zListen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYXListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW FFIV Episode 850 - Last One Of The Year AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses Final Fantasy XIV and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW NMS Episode 851 - You Get A Cool MultiTool and You Get A Cool MultiTool AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

Shelly Palmer has spent 45 years watching technology reshape every industry—from writing news themes for CBS to consulting with every major media company on AI strategy. On this year-end recap, he cuts through the noise with one devastating observation: 2025 was the year everyone talked about AI while almost nobody actually used it. Executives shook their heads knowingly in meetings, pontificated about capabilities the models don't yet have, and parroted nonsense they read from other people who knew nothing. But when you asked one innocent question, they crumbled.In the News: CES 2026 shapes up with Nvidia sponsoring two full days of AI training. Samsung is skipping the main floor for a massive offsite activation. Sony brings no electronics—only Honda's experimental vehicles. The TCL and Chinese companies' presence hinges on tariff policy. The innovation series breakfast that Shelly runs is becoming an official CES event after a decade of independence.The conversation spirals into deeper territory: $3 trillion in government money is stacked behind AI development. The U.S. explicitly states it must beat China to AGI—making this the Manhattan Project of our lifetime. Shelly walks through what he's seen in successful companies (leadership using the tech, paid "Tech Tuesdays" for AI experiments, cross-discipline teams with SecOps and legal at the table) versus the chaos of places with no process. He breaks down what's real—drone warfare, cybersecurity applications, robotics—versus what's hot air. And he makes a case that won't be killed by AI itself, but by militarized applications and the geopolitical arms race we're already in.5 Key Takeaways from Shelly:Leadership belief and hands-on use are non-negotiable. Companies winning with AI have senior leaders who actually use the technology. When the CEO walks into an LT meeting saying "I built this agent over the weekend," everyone else starts experimenting too.The recipe for AI success has three ingredients: leadership belief, paid time to experiment (Tech Tuesdays/Thursdays with real budgets), and cross-discipline teams (SecOps, legal, compliance, risk) paving the way. Chaos erupts without this structure.You cannot build a point of view on AI from reading blogs or watching YouTubers. Pick a personal project you care about, go hands-on with a model (Claude, Gemini, GPT), and complete it from beginning to end. Only lived experience grounds your understanding.AI parallelizes with web 1.0: In 1998, you had to hand-code HTML, build databases manually, write raw JavaScript. Today you can vibe code a site in 90 seconds. AI will eventually reach "spin me up an expert that does X" without asking questions—we're not there yet, but it's inevitable.It's both bubble and Manhattan Project. Some valuations are insane and will burst. But military applications, cyber warfare, drone control, robotics—those aren't going anywhere. The government won't back off. Both outcomes happen simultaneously.This episode is brought to you by Zappar, creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile headsets and desktop. Mattercraft combines game engine power with web flexibility and features an AI assistant to help you design, code, and debug in real time in your browser. Build smarter at mattercraft.io.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jaron Lanier, E. Glen Weyl, and Taylor Black join Beauty at Work for a wide-ranging conversation on artificial intelligence, innovation, and the deeper questions of meaning, faith, and human flourishing that surround emerging technologies.Jaron Lanier coined the terms Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality and is widely regarded as a founding figure of the field. He has served as a leading critic of digital culture and social media, and his books include You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future? In 2018, Wired Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in technology of the previous 25 years. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Jaron is currently the Prime Unifying Scientist at Microsoft's Office of the Chief Technology Officer, which spells out “Octopus”, in reference to his fascination with cephalopod neurology. He is also a musician and composer who has recently performed or recorded with Sara Bareilles, T Bone Burnett, Jon Batiste, Philip Glass, and many others.E. Glen Weyl is Founder and Research Lead at Microsoft Research's Plural Technology Collaboratory and Co-Founder of the Plurality Institute and RadicalxChange Foundation. He is the co-author of Radical Markets and Plurality and works at the intersection of economics, technology, democracy, and social institutions.Taylor Black is Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft and the founding director of the Leonum Institute on Emerging Technologies and AI at The Catholic University of America. His background spans philosophy, law, and technology leadership.In this first part of our conversation, we discuss:1. How aesthetic experience shapes worldview, imagination, and intellectual vocation2. The historical rivalry between artificial intelligence and cybernetics3. The danger of treating AI as an object of faith or a replacement for human meaning4. The psychological and spiritual costs of assuming people will become obsolete5. A tension between two different modalities of beautyTo learn more about Jaron, Glen and Taylor's work, you can find them at: Jaron Lanier - https://www.jaronlanier.com/ Glen Weyl - https://glenweyl.com/ Taylor Black - https://www.linkedin.com/in/blacktaylor/ Books and Resources mentioned:You Are Not a Gadget (Jaron Lanier)Who Owns the Future? (Jaron Lanier)Radical Markets (Eric Posner & E. Glen Weyl)Plurality (Audrey Tang & E. Glen Weyl)The Human Use of Human Beings (Norbert Wiener)The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust.Support the show

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are announcing the categories of this years 2025 Ruff Talk VR Awards! It's been a stacked year of releases and it's not easy task to filter the best of the best! Visit the link below to submit your nominee suggestions! Nominee Suggestion Form: https://forms.gle/KVPai6K4qGFsFJC36Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

FM100.3 host Rebecca Cressman interviews Mark Lach, Creative Producer of TITANIC: The Exhibition, now open in Salt Lake City just in time for the holidays. The exhibition is in Sandy, Utah, just north of The Shops at South Town giving visitors a chance to see real artifacts from the legendary ship, walk through beautifully recreated rooms, and even visit the Titanic wreck site through immersive virtual reality. Perfect for families during the holiday season, the exhibition also highlights Utah’s unique connections to the Titanic story. Open for a limited time, this unforgettable experience is now boarding—book passage at titanicexhibition.com.

Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!This is a bonus episode on the podcast feed of our YouTube Live community hangout from Saturday! Come hangout with us during the live which is usually Sunday at 3pm ET (Exact details weekly are on our Discord). Listen as we hangout and talk VR with some of our community!Showcase form: https://forms.gle/HxwkK9zuwydwbkKM8Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at  https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

Nate Torvik, Senior Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Win Reality, joins Pathmonk Presents to break down how lifecycle marketing works when your product is genuinely new to the market. Win Reality delivers virtual reality baseball and softball training tools used by athletes, parents, and coaches, creating a rare mix of D2C and B2B challenges. Nate explains why education is the real conversion lever, how persona-specific messaging drives confidence, and why lifecycle flows matter more when users don't fully understand what they're buying yet. The episode dives into paid social, Reddit as a discovery channel, and how confidence-building experiences can outperform feature-heavy sales tactics in emerging technology categories

AP's Lisa Dwyer reports on a new kind of "Senior moment"

Join us for an engaging conversation with Dr. Dustin Allen, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Programs in Human Physiology at Boston University. In this episode, Dr. Allen shares their experience with thermoregulation, virtual reality, and the power of mentorship in career and education.

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 849 - Oops I Did It Again, Expedition 17 Redux AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky, Final Fantasy XIV, Virtual Reality and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord  

Caitlin Krause, author of Digital Wellbeing, argues that intentional design unlocks genuine connection within virtual spaces. Drawing on her teaching at Stanford and the University of Oregon, she's explored how XR environments can foster asynchronous connection and ambient awareness for people who crave belonging without hyper-social performance. Her framework rejects the "digital detox" model entirely—instead advocating for dignity-first design where users match attention with authentic intention.The hosts debate the deeper question: what happens to human purpose when AI handles all labor? Rony Abovitz frames this as the "asymmetry of design"—it's easy to build addictive tech, hard to build wellbeing tech. Caitlin counters that we may return to the original meaning of "amateur" (from amor, "to love"), where humans find meaning through play, creativity, and what Harvard's lifespan study confirms: quality of relationship and presence. The conversation spirals from platform ethics to post-work society to what first principles we should use when designing XR.5 Key Takeaways from Caitlin:Loneliness is a biological prompt to find another human—not a void to fill with endless content. XR can foster genuine forms of connection without requiring hyper-social performance.Dignity-first design unlocks freedom, invention, and agency. When digital spaces prioritize user agency over engagement metrics, people report feeling like they "got their life back."Science will soon prove what we already know about fractal patterns in nature and digital signals. The key is designing digital experiences that resonate with how humans biologically thrive.The "middle path" between nature and digital is both/and. Gamers building entire lives in virtual worlds can be healthy when those worlds offer creativity, belonging, and meaningful challenge.The post-labor economy needs a reset in literacy and values. When AI outperforms human workers, purpose shifts from survival to what makes you feel alive—maker culture, digital fab labs, hands-on creation, and "amateur" pursuits driven by love.In the News: Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX close the $50 billion TikTok spin-off deal. Meta cuts Reality Labs by 30%, but CTO Andrew Bosworth says it's moving to AI. The TCL glasses demo 70 grams of lighter, more advanced XR hardware than Ray-Ban Meta—proving that smart spending beats mega-spend.This episode is brought to you by Zappar, creators of Mattercraft—the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile headsets and desktop. Build smarter at mattercraft.io.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of the Ruff Talk VR podcast we are starting the week talking all the latest VR news! Including Ghosts of Tabor's wipe and Splinter Cell DLC! As well as Trombone Champ: Unflattened's "Celeste" DLC! Full game launches to games such as Dawn Of Jets and Banners & Bastions. Game updates to game such as Iron Rebellion. Meta's Hand Tracking 2.4 update, and more!Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/00:00 - Episode Start14:25 - Ghosts of Tabor Wipe and Splinter Cell DLC21:50 - Beat Saber Coldplay DLC27:00 - Gorn 2 holiday update28:10 - Espire: MR Missions31:50 - Meta Quest Hand Tracking 2.435:20 - Maestro Pirates Of The Caribbean DLC37:45 - Banners & Bastions full release39:15 - Dawn Of Jets full release45:30 - Third Party Horizon OS headsets cancelled49:55 - Zero Caliber PS VR253:40 - Meta Holiday Sales57:00 - Puzzling Places holiday update1:00:49 - Meta Interaction SDK update1:02:35 - Trombone Champ: Unflattened Celeste DLC1:07:55 - Meta Quest Disney+ app1:10:00 - Spatial Ops update1:12:55 -  VR Giants Quest 31:14:20 - On Point full release1:16:50 - Meta CTO "VR is not dead" at Meta1:19:10 - Iron Rebellion "Foundations" update1:22:00 - Upcoming VR GamesSupport the show

Use code RUFFTALKVR at checkout to save on any game or hardware on the Meta Quest store and help support the show!This is a bonus episode on the podcast feed of our YouTube Live community hangout from Saturday! Come hangout with us during the live which is usually Sunday at 3pm ET (Exact details weekly are on our Discord). Listen as we hangout and talk VR with some of our community!Showcase form: https://forms.gle/HxwkK9zuwydwbkKM8Big thank you to all of our Patreon supporters! Become a supporter of the show today at  https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrDiscord: https://discord.gg/9JTdCccucSPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/rufftalkvrIf you enjoy the podcast be sure to rate us 5 stars and subscribe! Join our official subreddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/RuffTalkVR/Support the show

Co-Creating Care: Lessons from the Stage (EP:44) With Marco Antonio de Carvalho Filho, MD, PHD If medical education is meant to prepare people for the emotional realities of patient care, what might change if we taught students not only to do the work, but to fully inhabit the person they are becoming while doing it? Join host Stacy Craft, and guest Professor Dr. Carvalho Filho, as we explore an unexpected but deeply powerful intersection: the meeting of theater and medical education. Dr. Marco shares how the traditions of the stage, presence, imagination, emotional awareness, and co-creation, offer transformative possibilities for how we train future clinicians. Through stories of working with actors, facilitating embodied learning, and creating safe spaces for vulnerability, he reveals how theater can move education beyond checklists and simulations into something far more human. We discuss why presence matters more than prescribed communication “skills,” how students can reclaim their identities while learning to care for others, and why cultivating joy, curiosity, and emotional resilience may be essential to the health of both clinicians and the profession itself. From co-constructed simulations to long-form theatrical workshops, this episode invites us to rethink what meaningful learning and meaningful care can look like. Questions? Feedback? Ideas? Contact us at edufi@mayo.edu Audio Editing: Celina Bertoncini Additional Resources: Medical Education Empowered by Theater (MEET)Batista, M. P., & Rios, I. C. (2020). Medical education empowered by theater: The MEET model. Academic Medicine, 95(4), 578–583. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32134785/ Curtis, F., Lamont, Z., & Waldman, O. (2024). Zoom improv is accessible and enhances medical student empathy: A randomized controlled study. BMC Medical Education, 24, Article 6017. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-024-06017-6 Vigone, G., et al. (2025). Medicine at theatre: A tool for well-being and health-care education. BMC Medical Education, 25, Article 6793. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12909-025-06793-9.pdf Sato, B., & Pinho, V. (2020). Forum theatre as a teaching strategy in health care education. BMC Medical Education, 20, Article 1965. https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-020-1965-4 Rzepka, M., & Jagielski, P. (2025). Investigating the influence of role-playing on empathy and perspective-taking in medical learners. Perspectives on Medical Education, 14(1). https://pmejournal.org/en/articles/10.5334/pme.1482 Song, H. J., & Lee, S. (2025). Could empathy be taught? A systematic review of empathy training in medical education. Journal of Medical Systems, 49, Article 2144. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10916-025-02144-9 Thompson, R., & Vyas, K. (2024). The effectiveness of immersive virtual reality in teaching empathy to health-care students. Virtual Reality, 28, 1019–1032. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10055-024-01019-7 Shapiro, J., Morrison, E., & Boker, J. (2011). Using medical humanities to teach empathy to medical students: A scoping review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 26(8), 981–987. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21268921/

Show Notes for Ctrl Alt WoW Episode 848 - Ctrl Alt No Man's Sky AprilPvd and Grand Nagus discusses No Man's Sky, Final Fantasy XIV, Virtual Reality and other video games including World of Warcraft. Send an email to ctrlaltwow@gmail.com telling us how you play Virtual Reality and video games as an altoholic or dealing with it in your family life. Join us on our discourd: Ctrl Alt WoW Discord

In this special live episode recorded at SynthBee headquarters in South Florida, hosts Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, and Rony Abovitz bring listeners inside a special gathering of neuroscientists, philosophers, and technologists debating the future of AI. Moving beyond hype, the conversation focuses on "Collaborative Intelligence" vs. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), exploring whether we are building tools that amplify humanity or autonomous systems that will eventually replace it.Instead of traditional interviews, the hosts invite workshop speakers to the hot seat for rapid-fire insights on the deepest questions in tech: Can we measure an AI's true intentions? Is consciousness a physics problem? And how do we ensure these systems remain compatible with human flourishing?News HighlightsDisney invests $1B in OpenAI & licenses IP: The hosts debate whether this is a masterstroke to engage fans with user-generated Sora content or a "Yahoo powered by Google" mistake that hands the keys to the kingdom to a rival.Valve launches new PCVR hardware: A quick look at the attempt to revive the high-end PC VR market.Meta adds real-time vision to Ray-Bans: The next step in multimodal AI wearables.Guest HighlightsDr. Uri Maoz (Neuroscientist, Chapman/Caltech): Discusses the "black box" problem of neural networks, comparing the opacity of AI to the human brain, and how neuroscience tools might help us detect deception in AI systems.Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Ethics Professor, Duke): Argues that ethical AI regulation shouldn't be a monolith; different cultures need "sovereignty of ethics" to allow diverse moral frameworks to coexist rather than one centralized Silicon Valley standard.Dr. Julio Frenk (Chancellor, UCLA): Frames the AI race as a battle between "Computational Democracy" (distributed, transparent power) and "Computational Autocracy" (centralized control), warning that universities must preserve critical thinking or risk losing the ability to govern AI at all.Reed Maxwell & Laura Condon (Hydrologists, Princeton/Arizona): Reveal how AI is modeling the planet's water crisis, predicting "black swan" climate events, and why funding for this critical earth-science work is mysteriously disappearing.Danny M (12-Year-Old Prodigy): Steals the show with a stunningly articulate take on AI consciousness, "trapped man" experiments, and how fractal geometry might map neural weights—proving the next generation is more ready for this future than we are.Dr. Aaron Schurger (Psychology, Chapman): Explores the neuroscience of spontaneous action and free will, debating whether "telepathic" connections and quantum effects in the brain could be the missing link for true human-AI compatibility.Jared Ficklin (Chief Product Officer, SynthBee): The former Frog Design fellow argues we must shift the conversation from AI "capability" to "compatibility," using the intuitive connection humans have with dogs or horses as the benchmark for successful AI interfaces.Thanks to our sponsor Zappar!Subscribe for weekly insider perspectives from veterans who aren't afraid to challenge Big Tech. New episodes every Tuesday. Watch full episodes on YouTube. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.